1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a side view light emitting diode (LED) package, and more particularly, to a side view LED package which can be more accurately mounted onto a surface of a substrate such as a printed circuit board (PCB) without being misaligned.
2. Discussion of the Background
Generally, a side view LED package is primarily used as a back light illumination device for displays and is configured to be aligned with a side surface of a light guide plate to allow light generated by the side view LED package to be projected into the light guide plate.
FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 illustrate a conventional side view LED package. Referring to FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, a side view LED package 30 is placed adjacent to a side surface 21 of a light guide plate 20. The side view LED package 30 includes a body that is divided into a front portion 32 and a rear portion 34. An LED chip 31 for emitting light when electric power is applied thereto is embedded within the body.
The light generated from the LED chip 31 passes through a light-transmittable encapsulant, which is partially provided in the front portion 32 of the body, and is then emitted through a front face of the front portion 32. Since the front face of the front portion 32 faces the side surface 21 of the light guide plate 20, the side view LED package 30 projects light into the light guide plate 20.
For ease of manufacture, the body of a conventional side view LED package 30 including a front portion 32 and rear portion 34 that is molded within a mold (not shown), may be shaped such that the rear portion 34 is narrower than the front portion 32. This configuration allows the body of the side view LED package 30 to be easily separated from the mold and results in bottom and top sides of the front portion 32 of the body being respectively formed with horizontal planes, while bottom and top sides of the rear portion 34 of the body are respectively formed with inclined planes having height differences with respect to a horizontal plane of the front portion 32.
When the side view LED package 30 constructed with this configuration is mounted onto a PCB 10 by a surface mounting technique (SMT), the height difference between the bottom surface of the front portion 32 and the bottom surface of the rear portion 34, can cause the side view LED package 30 to be skewed or misaligned when mounted onto the PCB 10, as shown in FIG. 2. Further, conventional surface mounting techniques require a vacuum picker 2 to attach to a top surface of the side view LED package 30 and then transfer the side view LED package 30 to a desired position. In this transfer method the height difference between the top surface of the front portion 32 and the top surface of the rear portion 34 can prevent the vacuum picker from attaching to, and transferring the side view LED package 30 in a level, horizontal position, which can lead to misalignment when the side view LED package 30 is surface mounted on the PCB 10 as shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2.
If the side view LED package 30 is misaligned when mounted onto the PCB, the front light emitting surface of the side view LED package 30 cannot be properly aligned with the side surface of the light guide plate 20, thereby causing the light emitting efficiency of the side view LED package 30 to be reduced.